Lessons In Love
by Lana'sEvilRegal
Summary: When Robin Locksley starts his new teaching job and meets a stunning woman he thinks his luck may just be turning a corner but what will happen when he finds out that the girl isn't all she seems? Will he be able to hold back his feelings or find himself wandering down a path he can't come back from? (StudentTeacher AU) Rating may change Co-written with Lunaandtwilight07
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: So this is an idea that I came up with a while ago but I could only come up with the basics of what I wanted to happen.**_

 _ **My writing isn't that great so the lovely Lunaandtwilight07 helped to co-write this with me.**_

 _ **Go check out her other stories if you haven't already! They're awesome!**_

 _ **Anyways, hope you like it and please let us know what you think**_

It was the first day of term and Robin Locksley was on a come down from a summer full of, well full of relaxing in the sunshine, doing nothing, living a stress free life and most importantly, spending time with his son. But now school was starting up, he would have a horde full of new students, new names to learn, kids with new potential. He had the role of schooling them through it, moulding them into their best selves, offering them help when they needed it. He loved his job, but at times it could get rather stressful, especially when the kids were too cleaver for their own good, kids who would misbehave to gain attention.

Having the long holiday at the end of the school year gave him time to recuperate, but this year, he didn't feel ready to go back, not now; especially since he was staring at an entirely new school, which would mean he had to remember a hell of a lot, names of staff as well as students, his way around campus, timetables, everything, everything was new.

Today had not gone off to a good start, he had overslept, forgotten to reset his alarm after weeks of waking up when he pleased. Roland, his four-year-old son, had been ill over the weekend, so naturally he was exhausted, completely drained. To top it all off, he couldn't find his briefcase, what a great start this would be to the academic year.

Robin quickly checked the time, 'Crap!' he though. He was supposed to be there for 8am and he still had to drop Roland off at playgroup! Looks like he was going to have to skip breakfast, it wasn't the first time he had to, in fact it was a quite frequent occurrence.

He shouted up to Roland to tell him to put on his coat and shoes and he finally managed to locate his briefcase, which was hiding under a huge pile of Roland's comic books, how it got there, Robin would never know!

"I'm here Daddy" Roland said as he came bounding down the stairs.

Robin bent down to check that Roland had put his shoes on the correct feet, miraculously for once he had! He chuckled and ruffled his son's curly brown hair. "Come on then champ. Let's get you to playgroup before I miss my first class." Roland nodded and held his father's hand as he followed him outside. After he made sure that Roland was safely buckled into his car seat, they set off to playgroup.

Slowly he dragged himself through the main entrance, passing several teachers on his way, merely saying hi to a couple of them; but most seemed to just cast him strange glances, probably wondering who this stranger was in their school and why he was in such a hurry.

Finally, after having to ask for directions, he managed to locate the head teacher's office. He knocked at the door, then entered. "My apologies for being late Mr Gold, I had somewhat of a crisis this morning." If a crisis was defined as him sleeping in and losing his briefcase, he often had many crises.

Mr Gold sighed, looking up from his paperwork, casting him a look which was rather hard to read. "Well Mr Locksley, you're here now." Robin could tell, that the man wasn't one for pleasantries. "Please proceed to your first class." Gold mumbled waving him away as he went back to his paperwork.

"Yes, well, just one question if I may?" Robin tried.

"What is it?" He asked, a hint of frustration present in his voice.

"Where exactly is my classroom?"

"To the left and down the hall, room 13A."

"Thank you." Robin nodded and walked back out into the corridor. He sighed and shook his head, 'great job Locksley!' he thought 'what a wonderful first impression you must have given him!'

He was so busy scolding himself for his lateness that he wasn't looking where he was going; someone bumped directly into him and his briefcase went flying through the air, the impact causing the girl to fall backwards.

Reaching out he grabbed her before she could hit the ground "Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" he apologised letting go of her as he bent down to pick up the contents of his briefcase off the floor.

"That's quite alright" she replied bending down to help him "I'm sure I wasn't entirely focusing on where I was going." she looked up at him and smiled.

He looked back at her and froze with his mouth slightly ajar, she was the most stunning woman he'd ever seen; her eyes, her deep brown eyes were sparkling and her raven hair was flawlessly styled. The connection was instant, the minute his eyes locked onto hers, how could that be possible? How could he feel with such intensity towards someone he had literally bumped into. It was as if that bump jolted something, something inside him, deep down, a feeling that he had been missing.

After shovelling everything back into his case, he held out his hand and helped her to stand up. "I apologise again milady"

She gave a small smile as she accepted his hand. "As I said, it's fine." She smiled. "I really must be going."

As she turned to walk away Robin called out to her "Thanks for helping me with my bag."

She turned back and smirked at him. "Anytime." She quipped, before carrying on her way.

Wow, she was gorgeous! He knew he was going to find it even more difficult to concentrate now, he wouldn't be able to get her out of his head, she was embedded there, on his mind, unforgettable. He'd never felt this before, never felt such a strong imitate connection with another person; not even his Marian, the mother off his child who had passed away three years previously.

He didn't understand, it had been three years, three years since he had felt anything towards any woman. There had been countless blind dates, all went horribly; well not all, but most. This feeling, this intense emotion, this was something he hadn't had in a very, very long time.

Robin finally managed to pull himself together and headed towards his classroom. He sighed as he pushed open the door and was greeted by a tall red headed woman with blue eyes. She was stood in front of a class full of students, maker in hand, writing on the board; dressed from head to toe in black, a skirt suit, with black tights and heels.

"Oh."

"Can I help you?" she asked, turning towards the door, upon catching sight of Robin she cast him a flirtatious smile.

"I do apologise," Robin answered sheepishly. "I must have got the wrong classroom."

"Not to worry," she said, placing the marker down as she walked closer and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm Miss West, but you can call me Zelena." she told him, raising her eyebrows slightly.

Robin let out an awkward cough. "Erm, I'm Mr Locksley, sorry, no Robin. Robin Locksley, I'm the new English teacher." He was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable with the way she was acting towards him and was hyperaware of her hand on his shoulder.

"Hmmm, I thought you must be new. I would have definitely noticed you before now if you weren't" she bit her bottom lip, looking him up and down, as if she wanted to devour him. "If you want a tour of the place, or just need anything in general, all you have to do is ask," she said, with a wink, moving her hand down to his bicep and giving it a slight squeeze.

If Robin didn't feel awkward before, he certainly did now! "Um, thanks for the offer, but I think I'll be fine." He smiled awkwardly, disengaging her hand from his arm. "Good day." He uttered before turning and leaving Zelena's classroom as fast as his legs would carry him. God, he hoped the rest of the teaching staff weren't like that! Since when was it common practice to practically touch up a co-worker? The look in her eyes made him uncomfortable, that defiantly wasn't a normal way to greet someone, not where he came from.

When he finally managed to locate his room, he was five minutes late for his class. He pushed the door open and was met by a horde of students, staring at the door, chatter dying down as they recognised that the teacher had just walked in. Consciously he wandered over to his desk and placed his briefcase, which was now broken, on top of it.

"I must apologise for my lateness everybody. My name is Mr Locksley and I will be your English teacher from now on." He addressed his class as he wrote his name on the board behind him. He needed to pull himself together if he was going to get through this day, placing a full stop after his name he turned around.

Moving back to his desk, he removed the text book from the tatters that was his briefcase and flipped through it, trying to remember what section they would be reading from. Great, this was just great. He went to retrieve the piece of paper he had written the page numbers on, only to find that it wasn't in his bag. It must have fallen out and gotten lost when he bumped into her, the beautiful girl with the mesmerising eyes. Flicking through the text book once again, he knew he probably looked like an idiot who didn't know what he was doing, he did know, but just not at that moment, at that moment he was too distracted, distracted by memories of her. Finally finding the correct page, he spoke up "Now, if you would all like to take out your text books and turn to page..." as soon as he started, he was suddenly interrupted by someone entering his classroom.

"Sorry I'm late," said the person who had just walked in.

Robin heard the voice first and then turned to stare at her in shock. It was the her! The girl he had bumped into on his way out of Mr Gold's office and had been on his mind ever since! Why was she here? What had she even just said? Sorry I'm late? Wait a minute did that mean… surely not, she couldn't be, could she? He coughed as he addressed her, "not to worry, Miss?"

"Mills," she answered. "Regina Mills."

He could see it in her eyes also, shock, she seemed to be just as shocked as he was. Robin nodded as she took her seat at the front of the class. Then it hit him like a rock oh my God, she was a student! Not just any student, but his student! She'd seemed so much more mature; he could've sworn she was a member of staff. The confidence she carried herself with screamed that she was a teacher herself, at the very least a teaching assistant.

He couldn't believe this, this wasn't happening, the first time he felt anything for anyone and she was a student! She was off limits, completely unattainable. He would just have to find a way to erase her from his mind, erase the feelings he had already harboured following their first meeting.

He picked up his text book "Turn to page twenty-three please." He looked out into the sea of pupils and only one pair of eyes caught his attention, hers. This was going to be ever harder than he though, how was he supposed to forget about her when she was there to remind him of her presence, right there on the front row.

Then he realised it, he was falling for one of his students. Shit.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much for the feed back!**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks again to Lunaandtwilight07 for helping co-write this story.**

When the school bell finally rang to signal the end of the day, Robin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

It was over. At least for now, he'd have to go through it all over again tomorrow and the next day, and the day after that, until the end of the academic year when Regina would be graduating. Until then he would have to endure the torture of seeing her every day, work at maintaining a professional relationship with her and if his silly infatuation hadn't gone away by the end of the year and she was interested in him, maybe he could ask her out.

No, that would be wrong, wouldn't it? She was quite a bit younger than he was, by almost twelve years, but she seemed mature, much more than any student he had taught before her. This was ridiculous, he didn't even know if his feelings were reciprocated or not, it could just be one sided and then he would be the creep who was attracted to one of his students, something that he frowned upon.

She was mesmerising though, everything about her completely fascinated him. It was day one and he had already witnessed her great passion for literature, the glint in her eyes as she had offered an answer on a specific section of the text. She was genuinely interested in the subject and that was something he loved, her intelligence was evident, she was clever and quick witted, one of those people who truly understood the meaning behind the texts, she could instantly decipher difficult sections and he agreed with each and every one of her comments.

He had felt both relief and disappointment when the end of the first lesson came, she had left, looking back at him as she went and he had offered her a friendly smile, it was the best he could manage, because he was having to fight down the feelings inside, fight his desire to ask her out; something which was a very, very bad idea, not to mention breaking all the rules in the book. If he gave in to what he wanted, he would be jeopardising her education and his own career, he couldn't afford to do that, not when he had his son to support.

He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair and tried to pile all his books and paperwork inside his ruined briefcase, he was really going to have get round to replacing that at some point. Instead of carrying on, he took out a plastic carrier bag and dropped everything in there, before making his way back to his car, he slung the bag, with the broken case inside, onto the back seat and then climbed in himself. He still had a couple of hours until he had to pick Roland up from his playgroup and he really needed a coffee.

Luckily for him, one of his fellow teachers, Neal, had recommended a nice little coffee shop about a five minute drive from the school. He was about to start up the car when he heard a tap on the window. Looking up, there he saw the woman who's classroom he had walked into earlier. What did she want?

Trying not to show his displeasure at her presence, he rolled down the window and cast her a faint smile.

"Robbie," she chuckled, leaning on the door and peering into his car.

He rose his eyebrows, Robbie?

"Can I help you?" Robin asked her.

Zelena fluttered her eyelashes and smiled down at him. "Just wanted to say hi." She gave him a flirty wink and sauntered off to her own car.

Robin wiped the disgusted look from his face and went back to starting his car. He thought that he understood women quite well, but that one was a complete and utter mystery to him.

The next minute, he was driving as fast as he could out of the school car park, putting as much distance between him and Zelena as was physically possible. He knew from the couple of times he had bumped into her, that she wanted him, but he didn't want her, would never want her, there was only one person he wanted, Regina. No, he needed to stop thinking about her, get her out of his mind, she was his student, that's what he had to keep telling himself; that she was a student and she was off limits.

Robin luckily managed to find a parking spot right outside the coffee shop, a lovely, homely looking place called Geppetto's, at least something had gone right today!

He checked to see if he still had his wallet in his pocket, just in case he'd had even more bad luck and left it on his desk at school or something ridiculous like that. Or eve worse, that it could have also fallen out of his briefcase when he bumped into Regina and dropped it. Oh great, now he was thinking about her again, she is a student, he repeated. Luckily the wallet was still inside his jacket, so he made his way towards the shop, he could just about kill for a coffee right now.

He closed his eyes and pulled open the door, what he saw when he walked in made him stop dead in his track and almost caused his heart to stop beating. Regina! Regina was behind the counter, tending to the till!

Robin didn't know whether to be happy or not. On one hand, he was thrilled to get to see her again; on the other hand, he knew he should try to keep his distance, that's what he had been telling himself all day.

He should leave, he couldn't talk to her, he didn't have the nerve to talk to her alone, in a setting that wasn't school, where he could excuse himself to talk to other students. He was about to turn around and walk straight back out again, but just as he was about to go, Regina spotted him

"Hi, Mr Locksley!" she called over to him with a big smile and a slight wave of her hand.

Robin forced a smile onto his face and walked over to the counter. "Hello Regina. I didn't know you worked here."

"Oh, it's fairly new. I've only been here two weeks. Although I think the regulars already dislike me," she sighed, rolling her eyes as she leant on the counter.

"What's not to like?" Robin exclaimed, before he could stop himself. 'Great Locksley! She probably thinks you're some sort of creep now!' he mentally scolded himself.

She smiled up at him and there was a definite blush to her cheeks. "Thanks," she smiled. "I seem to be getting people's orders wrong. I swear I'm trying really hard but I keep messing up!"

She sighed and looked at the desk as her hands fiddled with the plait she'd tied her hair in to for work.

Robin felt sorry for her and without thinking, took her hand and moved it away from her hair. "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it," he said with a gentle smile.

Regina was speechless as she looked at where their hands were joined. She'd never felt that intimate connection with someone before. It was like a spark had ignited somewhere deep inside her, that was impossible to extinguish.

No! Wait! What was she thinking?! He was a teacher! Her teacher! He probably thought she was just some silly little schoolgirl, there would be no chance that he would ever like her in that way. She must have imagined the feeling, conjured it in her mind; he was extremely good looking, but he was her teacher.

She gently pulled her hand away from his and coughed slightly as she smoothed down her apron, she spoke without looking at him. "So, what can I get you, Mr Locksley?"

Robin had been so caught up in the moment that he just stared at her in shock. He had touched her, he hadn't meant to, but she had seemed stressed, like she was in need of some sort of comfort. The contact had lingered, he shouldn't have touched her, that was crossing the line and he knew it was. She probably thought he was some weird teacher. Oh God! He was as bad as Zelena! Zelena, just that morning, had made him feel intensely uncomfortable when she had touched him and he had just gone and done the same to Regina. He looked at her, great, she wouldn't even meet his eye now. He didn't mean to make her feel so uncomfortable.

"Umm... I'm so sorry Regina I'll umm... I'll take a peppermint cappuccino please," he stuttered through his order and lame attempt at an apology, how would that make her feel any more comfortable?!

Regina nodded, still without looking at him, and set out to make his order.

Robin stood awkwardly, a little way back from the counter, with his hands tucked inside the pockets of his jeans. He'd love nothing more than to leap over that counter and confess everything he felt to her. If it wasn't for all the bad things he knew would happen as a result, or the fact that it would probably scar Regina for life, then he'd do it in a heartbeat.

Regina walked back to face him, placing his coffee on the counter in front of him. "Erm, that'l be $3.50 please," she told him.

Robin took out his wallet and handed her a ten dollar bill. "Here," he smiled. "Keep the change."

She finally met his eye and smiled back at him, before thanking him and putting the $6.50 in to her tip jar, which only contained a handful of coins.

Robin nodded towards her and went to find a table that was as far away from the counter as possible. Not that he didn't want to be near her. He just knew that he had to keep his distance, like he kept telling himself; only it was getting more and more difficult every time he saw her.

Regina had gone back to serving other customers, but her mind was on one in particular. A certain English teacher sat on the other side of the coffee shop. Was he deliberately trying to avoid her as much as possible by sitting the furthest away that he could? She shook her head as she tried to think about anything but her handsome teacher. Coffee, homework, her little brother, Henry and taking him out to the park after work, even the weather!

However hard she tried, she couldn't make herself think about anything else but him. She glanced over at where he was sitting and she noticed him looking back at her. Was he wondering why she was staring at him? Why was he staring at her? He couldn't possibly feel the same. Could he? No, of course not, it was a stupid crush, an infatuation, she was stupid for thinking anything different. But, oh how his touch had affected her, caused her to feel things she shouldn't be feeling, not towards him, it was wrong, he was her teacher. He would be in so much trouble if anything were to happen between them, she couldn't let it, he would lose his job and she wouldn't let that happen, it wasn't fair. He probably just felt sorry for her anyway, there wasn't anything else to it. Was there?

Robin was taken aback when he saw Regina staring back at him. He tried to decipher the look in her eyes. Lust? Longing? No. He was being stupid. She couldn't possibly think of him in that way. Could she? No, of course she didn't, she was probably just happy that someone was nice enough to give her a tip.

He picked up his coffee and took a sip, he was surprised to find that she hadn't given him the right coffee and it was, in fact, just a normal cappuccino, without the peppermint. He laughed to himself and shook his head, she had said that she kept getting orders wrong and it was cute. He wasn't going to embarrass her by taking it back, because honestly, he would drink dishwater if she had made it for him, well maybe not dishwater. Cappuccino was fine and it was quite a good cup, she was quite the barista, well she would be if she had made the correct drink, he really did not mind in the slightest.

After finishing his coffee, he quickly wiped around his mouth, just to make sure that there was none left behind, before checking his watch. He had about twenty minutes before he had to go and pick up Roland. He would be glad to spend the night with his son, take his mind of the day he'd had, take his mind off Regina, if that were possible; if anyone could manage it, it would be Roland.

Sighing, he picked himself up and out of his seat and headed towards the exit. As he reached for the door, he couldn't stop himself from casting Regina one last smile, which she shyly returned, then he pushed open the door and climbed back into his car. She was so beautiful, but she didn't seem to realise that, there was an air of adorable nervousness around her, maybe even insecurity; he for one, wouldn't be able to think about anyone else, not as long as Regina was in his life and he knew that she would be, all year, in the front row.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update this! I was having problems coming up with anything that sounded remotely good :/**

 **I promise I'll try and update a little bit quicker after this chapter :)**

 **Thanks again to Lunaandtwilight07 for helping to co-write this :)**

How the hell did he forget that Roland's babysitter would pick him up from playgroup?! Roland had been in the same routine for months when he had to work. Robin sighed as he turned his car around to drive to the babysitter's to pick up his son.

He pulled up to Roland's babysitter's house, the entire drive he had only been able to think of one person, Regina, and he knew he was spiralling into dangerous territory. It was a new job and he knew he couldn't just quit over a woman, he needed the job, he needed the money, but it was going to be so difficult for him to think about anything else but Regina.

Rubbing his face, he pushed the car door open and hopped out before walking up to the front door. Roland's babysitter was a young woman, who wore her black hair in a pixie cut, Mary Margaret was her name. She opened the front door and smiled at him, "hey Robin."

"Hi, I hope he hasn't been any trouble."

"When is he ever any trouble?" the woman laughed, shaking her head.

"Okay, so I know he's not normally any trouble, but you never know," Robin chuckled, running his hand through his hair as Mary Margaret invited him in. She had been Roland's babysitter for a while now and she and Roland had developed quite a close relationship which was lovely, especially since Roland no longer had a female figure in his life.

"Roland, have you seen who's here?" she asked, walking into the sitting room, where Roland was sat on the rug playing with another boy.

"Daddy! Look! Look at the tower me and Henry made out of Lego!" he grinned, as he pointed to the structure, which was leaning slightly. "Can you see how tall it is?!" he asked excitedly.

"Wow! That's really tall champ," he chuckled, knowing how much Roland's tower would mean to him and he was clearly extremely proud of it.

"I know!" Roland beamed.

"Are you ready to go then?"

"No, I want to play with Henry more," he whined, sitting back down again.

"Roland." Robin said sternly, he had had an extremely stressful day, the last thing he needed was his son being moody because he wasn't allowed to play with his friend.

There was a knock at Mary Margaret's door, breaking Robin out of his thoughts. "Hi Mary Margaret," he heard a familiar voice say.

Robin let out a small gasp, he knew that voice! Hell, he'd been thinking about its owner all day!

Robin turned to face the door as she walked in behind Mary Margaret. As she spotted him, Regina let out a gasp of her own.

"Um, hi Mr Locksley," she said shyly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Robin was saved from replying by Henry, who had leapt up from the floor upon seeing his big sister and ran into her arms. "Gina!" Henry squealed with delight. Regina smiled as she lifted Henry up onto her hip. "Hey little man. Did you have a good day?"

Henry nodded enthusiastically and Regina chuckled and kissed his forehead. Her little brother meant everything to her, she loved him with all her heart and would do anything for him. The last thing she had expected when coming to pick up Henry had been for her to bump into him again, she'd thought that she would just go pick up her brother and go home, but now her heart had to endure more of whatever this feeling was.

She ran her fingers through Henry's hair, wow this was awkward, what was she supposed to do? Should she just thank Mary Margaret and leave? Should she wait for him to leave first? Was it really all that difficult to make the decision, clearly for her it was. She was being ridiculous and she knew it, she had to just keep reminding herself that this man was her teacher, nothing could ever happen between them, ever. Not that he even wanted anything to happen, she was a pathetic school girl with a crush and would just need to forget about the way he made her feel, the way his blue eyes stirred this feeling deep inside, a feeling that she was having trouble putting down.

Robin watched the scene play out in front of him with a smile, 'wow, she's really great with him' he thought. Oh great! Now he was thinking about how she would be with Roland. 'Get a grip of yourself Locksley!' She wasn't old enough to be a mother, well, technically she was, but she had her whole life ahead of her, who would want to be burdened with someone else's child at such a young age? It wasn't even just that, again there was the looming factor that she was his student.

Robin felt a small tug on the bottom of his jacket, pulling him away from his thoughts. He looked down at Roland, who was looking up at him with puppy dog eyes. "Daddy, please can we go to the park with Henry and Regina?"

Robin sighed and shook his head, "not today Roland. I'm sure Regina wants to get Henry home and that they have things to do."

"Actually," Regina answered, as she placed Henry back on the floor, "we don't have any plans. We can come to the park for a bit, that is, if you're ok with it?" she asked tucking her hair behind her ear nervously. "Obviously for the kids; I think Henry would love to spend some time with children his age." She offered him a small smile. Why was she doing this? It was going to be torture going to the park with him, they would have to stand there awkwardly with all this tension between them, whilst the children played, this was such a bad idea and if she didn't love Henry so much, she wouldn't have agreed to it. Who was she kidding though, she wanted to spend time with Mr Locksley and the children provided her with the perfect excuse to do that.

"Oh, um... yes, ok, that's fine then." Robin nodded, shocked that she actually wanted to do something, he had expected her to make some excuse about homework or something, but no, it seemed as though they were going to the park together.

Roland let out a big cheer as soon as his father had finished speaking, and Henry joined in. Robin, Regina and Mary Margaret all laughed at the boy's enthusiasm.

"Come on then Henry," Regina spoke up, "if you want to go to the park then let's get your shoes and coat on."

"Same for you too Roland," Robin called to his son.

Henry and Roland both stopped jumping around and went to do as they were told.

When everyone was dressed appropriately for the park, they said a fond goodbye to Mary Margaret and left the house.

Henry held onto Regina's hand as they walked down the sidewalk, whilst Roland clung to his father.

"Daddy?"

"Hmm?" Robin looked down at his son.

"Can we get ice cream?"

"Ice cream? Before dinner?" Robin asked, tutting jokingly. Roland laughed as he nodded, "well, I don't see why not."

"Yay," Roland chuckled as they walked towards the gates of the park. "Henry, my daddy said that I could have ice cream."

"Oh, Gina?" He turned to look at her, casting her puppy dog eyes, "please Gina."

Robin looked at her as she sighed and shook her head, "sorry Henry, I don't have my purse, I dropped my stuff at home on my way to pick you up."

"That's okay," he nodded looking to the ground.

Regina felt awful, her brother clearly wanted an ice cream and had she had her purse with her, she would have gladly bought him one, someone had to, certainly her mother wouldn't; she often bought him treats using her wage, because she liked to do it.

Robin cast a glance at the little boy, his own excited son had stopped bouncing and now wore a frown, "daddy, I don't want ice cream anymore." He sighed, "it's okay Henry, ice cream isn't that good anyway." He smiled at him.

Robin was struck by the kind nature of his son, it blew him away that he cared so much about other people's feelings and put them before his own needs. "Don't worry boys, I'll get you both an ice cream, in fact, why don't we all have one?"

Regina stared at him, a smile wanting to make its way onto her face, "thank you Mr Locksley, but I couldn't let you pay for us, it wouldn't be right."

Before Robin could protest, Regina looked down at Henry's pleading face and quickly changed her mind, he was undeniably cute when he looked at her like that and she could never say no to him. "On second thoughts, why not?! As long as you let me pay you back," she nodded at Robin, casting him a smirk before she could think otherwise. Was that look too suggestive? She hoped not, she looked down at the floor, messing with her hair.

Robin smiled and shook his head, "I'm not going to take your money Regina," he smiled kindly. She looked up again and met his eye. "Oh, and when we're away from school, you don't have to call me Mr Locksley, Robin will do."

Regina couldn't help the blush rising to her cheeks at his words, she nervously bit at her bottom lip and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Ok, thank you Robin," she said shyly.

Robin felt as though his heart had stopped as his name fell from her lips. He could tell she was nervous, the signs were clear, her constant need to mess with something, which at that moment was her hair, the shy glances and the way she brought her bottom lip in-between her teeth, that was his favourite, it intrigued him. The thing was though, he wasn't sure as to whether she was nervous for the same reason he was, because she felt something between them, or because she was in the park allowing her teacher to buy her ice cream, which when he thought about it, it was a little creepy and probably going against all the rules in the book. At that moment though he wasn't thinking about it, she was there and he was there and they were both caught up in the moment.

Regina stared at him, Robin, she liked it, his name suited him. Somehow it sounded perfect coming from her and now she was really worried about what she was feeling, she couldn't be feeling this way towards him, she just couldn't, he was her teacher, her teacher! But at the same time he was so handsome and good with his son and she was really attracted to him, it was wrong and she knew it was, but she couldn't turn it off, she couldn't make it go away and it was just getting worse, the more time she spent with him, the more time she wanted to spend with him.

They both just stood, staring into each other's eyes until a small cough brought them back to reality. Robin looked down at his son who was stood with his arms folded, looking slightly impatient.

Robin chuckled and ruffled his hair, "come on then. Let's go and find that ice cream."

"Yay!" both boys cheered at the same time.

Robin and Regina both chuckled as they led the boys to the ice cream stall.

"So what's everyone having?" Robin addressed the group.

"Chocolate!" exclaimed Henry and Roland together. Robin grinned and looked up, "Regina?" he asked.

"Oh, um, mint choc-chip please," she answered with a smile. Why was the way he was looking at her feel slightly weak in the knees? She took a deep breath and placed her hands on Henry's shoulders, needing to bring herself back down to earth.

Robin nodded and smiled back, "and I'll take a vanilla cone please," he said, turning to face the man behind the counter.

The man nodded and handed Robin the cones, who handed each one to the others. Robin thanked the man and paid what he owed before turning back to Regina, Henry and Roland.

Roland had only had his ice cream for about thirty seconds and already he had gotten it all over his face. Robin chuckled as he bent down to wipe his son's face with a tissue, only for Roland to instantly get it all over his face again. Robin sighed and shook his head and stood up, laughing at his son's antics.

Regina had watched the scene with a warm smile, as Robin stood, they caught each other's eyes again and she, yet again, instantly felt that same connection she always felt. She felt Henry tug on the sleeve of her coat, breaking her out of her trance as she looked down at him.

"Please can we go to the swings Gina?" Henry asked with a smile, and a face full of ice cream.

"Of course Henry," she replied with a grin. "Let's see if I have a tissue in my pocket to get all that ice cream off your face first though." Regina rummaged around her pockets and sighed when she realised that there weren't any tissues there, they were with her purse, in her bag at home.

"Here,' Robin said kindly, offering her a tissue from the packet he had just pulled from his pocket.

Regina smiled at him gratefully as she took one, "thank you." She bent down and quickly wiped all the ice cream from Henry's face. Henry giggled as she tapped his nose playfully before she stood.

"Alright then," she addressed the group, as she took Henry's hand. "Let's go and find those swings."

Henry and Roland ran off to play on the swings leaving Robin and Regina stood at the side-lines, there was an awkward silence, one filled with sexual tension that the both of them were trying their hardest to deny. Regina dared to look up at him, only to find him looking at her too.

"Robin."

"Regina."

They both stated at the same time, causing them to both laugh. "Sorry, you go first." She nodded.

"I was just going to say how good you are with your brother."

"Oh, I love him with all my heart." She grinned, looking over to where Henry was having fun with Roland. "He is the best little brother I could ask for."

"You have a close bond then?"

"Yes, very close." There was a sudden gust of wind and she felt herself shiver slightly.

Robin noticed this and frowned, "here." He took off his red scarf and passed it to her.

"It's not even cold." She laughed, "it's September."

"You never know when you might need a scarf." He shrugged, grinning at her. "Come on."

She rolled her eyes and took it from him, wrapping it around her neck. Wow, it smelt amazing, like fresh trees, pine maybe, whatever it was she couldn't help but burry her nose in it slightly. Then she remembered he was watching her and she allowed it to hang. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he smiled kindly, thinking that it looked better on her anyway.

She smiled back shyly and, without realising she was doing it, started playing with the tassels at the end of the scarf.

He watched her as she absent-mindedly played with his scarf. God, did she not realise how beautiful she looked doing that?! She was stunning, perfect, the way her eyes shone in the with the reflection of the setting sun. He shook himself away from his thoughts and turned back to watching his son playing, maybe if he tried to concentrate on Roland, he might stop thinking about her for two seconds.

Henry and Roland had moved from the swings to the slide. Roland was standing at the top of the steps and Henry was at the bottom of the slide, trying to climb up it.

"Henry!" Regina scolded, when she saw what he was trying to do.

Henry moved away from the slide, watched Roland slide down it and turned to face Regina with a sheepish look on his face, "sorry Gina!"

Regina nodded and chucked softly as Robin smiled at her, wow, she really was great with kids! She had just the right amount of authority, mixing it with playfulness and he knew that it worked as Henry was very obedient.

Regina caught Robin looking down at her and quickly looked away, checking her watch in the process. 'Shit!' she thought. Her mother would be home soon, she had to get Henry home and give him his tea before she was. She hated to leave now, even though she would be relieved that she didn't have to fight her instinct to reach out and touch him, or nudge him playfully like she would have done if he were anyone but who he was, anyone but her teacher.

"I'm sorry," she apologised, looking up at Robin. "I have to be getting Henry home now."

Robin couldn't help but look and feel disappointed that his time with her had come to an end. He looked back at her with a small smile and nodded, "ok, me and Roland will walk you both back to your car."

Regina couldn't help the huge smile that lit up her face at his words, happy that she wouldn't have to walk back alone in the dusk and that she had a chance to spend more time with Robin out of school. She nodded and turned back to face the boys. "Henry!" she called, waving him over. "Come on, we have to get home now."

"Awwwwww!" both Henry and Roland frowned. "Why?" he moaned.

"Come on," Regina said chuckling, as she put her hand on his shoulder, steering him to walk in the direction of Mary Margaret's house, where she had left her car.

As they got back to their cars, Regina turned to Robin, "thank you," she smiled.

"What for?" Robin grinned, holding onto her door, effectively trapping her between the car and his body.

"For walking back with us, and for the ice cream, which by the way I'm paying you back for!" she replied, laughing taking a step closer.

Robin laughed and shook his head, "as I've already said, don't worry about it."

"I don't care; I'm paying you back anyway."

Robin chuckled and held up his hands in defeat, "I'm not going to win this argument am I?"

"Definitely not!" Regina laughed nervously, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Anyway, I better go," she said, pointing to her car.

"Oh, yes, of course," Robin smiled. "I better get this little guy home too," he said, ruffling Roland's hair. "I'll see you in class tomorrow."

Regina smiled and moved to sit in the driver's seat and he closed the door for her, she rolled down the window, "bye Mr Locksley."

"It's Robin."

She rolled her eyes before grinning at him, "bye Robin."

"See you later Regina." Robin sighed and rubbed his face as he watched her drive away, god he needed to get her out of his head!

Later that night, he was putting Roland to bed. "Daddy, please could I have a story?" Roland asked, burying under his duvet and casting his father a dimpled smile.

"Of course my boy," Robin answered, as he pulled a book from the shelf, Roland's favourite. He loved this time he shared with his son, just relaxing and sitting back to read to his boy. He sat down on the bed beside Roland and placed his arm on his pillow, allowing him to run his fingers through his curly locks.

After a few pages, Robin noticed Roland's eyes beginning to droop. He placed the book back on the shelf and went back to kiss Roland on the forehead, "goodnight Roland."

"Goodnight Daddy," Roland said sleepily. "I like Regina, she's really pretty and nice," Roland smiled as his eyes closed, falling into a peaceful sleep.

Robin was taken aback by his son's words and sighed, "yes my boy, she is," he whispered walking back to his own bedroom where he knew he'd never be able to sleep again without his head being full of thoughts of her, thoughts of Regina.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: I'm so sorry for such a long wait! I've been struggling with what to write for this but thankfully I have the amazing Lunaandtwilight07 to help me with this, I wouldn't have got this chapter done if it wasn't for her!**_

Regina awoke to the sound of her alarm clock. She groaned and rolled over to switch it off, then burrowed back under her covers to try and catch an extra five minutes of sleep, it was too early to be awake and she was in the middle of a lovely dream that she was annoyingly disturbed from.

There was a brief knock at her bedroom door, and she heard someone entered her room. She knew exactly who it was and picked up her pillow to place it over her head.

"Gina!" Henry shouted, as he ran forwards and leapt on her bed, jumping on her.

"Oh! Henry!" she laughed as she sat up and hit him lightly with the pillow, before she began to tickle him.

Henry squealed and thrashed his arms and legs around, "Gina! Stop tickling!" he laughed.

Regina stopped tickling him and pulled him backwards for a hug, both of them still laughing.

Their laughter was soon interrupted by their mother coming to Regina's bedroom door. "Will you two stop messing around and do what you're supposed to be doing?" She scolded, the permanent scowl plastered across her face, which was nothing new. She shook her head before flinging open the curtains, then she turned back to her daughter and shook her head, "and Regina how many times have I told you not to sleep with your hair like that? It always makes you look so untidy in the mornings."

Regina unconsciously played with the plait she'd put her hair into before bed and sighed as Henry moved away and jumped down off her bed, looking at the floor.

"Yes mother," she replied, with a somewhat forced smile.

Cora nodded sternly and turned to leave the room.

Regina ran a hand through her now unplaited hair and sighed. She swung her legs off her bed and noticed that Henry was nervously playing with the bottom of his pyjama shirt.

She smiled and moved to pick him up to sit on her lap. "Come on now little man, give me a smile," she said, playfully tapping him on the nose, which caused Henry to giggle. She hated that her mother scared him so, it was unfair, he was so young and he didn't deserve to be treated how he was. Technically her mother hadn't told him off, but any amount of shouting from anyone immediately made him nervous; she was glad that she could be the one to make him smile, make up for her mother's short comings. "How about we go and get you dressed, then we can go to playgroup?"

Henry nodded with a smile, then jumped down from his sister's lap and held out his hand to her. Regina smiled as she stood up off her bed and took hold of his outstretched hand.

It hadn't always been like this, her mother hadn't been so vile for their whole lives, it just seemed to happen. Regina knew why it happened, it was when her father had died, her mother had lost any love she had in her heart and now seemingly cared for no one, she took his death out on them. Henry senior had died when Henry junior was just a baby, he was barley three weeks old when they lost their father; this had resulted in her mother's post-natal depression and Regina having to show Henry the love that Cora should have been showing him.

Whilst Regina understood why her mother treat them that way, Henry just didn't and he often asked her why his mommy didn't love him and Regina, well, she didn't have an answer to give him, she didn't know how she was supposed to explain the situation to a four-year-old, so she had become like a mother to him. This caused her to think about Robin and how his son didn't have a mother, sure Roland had a father, but not a mother; life could be cruel she knew that, it just tore people away from each other, tore families apart.

She sighed and helped Henry get changed before making his breakfast, leaving him to eat and going upstairs to get ready. She changed into a pair of black skinny jeans paired with a royal blue blouse; she was just applying her makeup when she heard a loud crash and her head shot around to the door.

"You stupid clumsy child!"

Her eyes went wide as she stood up and rushed out of the room, running down the stairs to see Henry sat on the floor, his head buried in his lap.

"Look what you've done!"

"Mom, stop!" Regina hurried over and picked up her little brother, "he's only a kid, he didn't mean to!"

"He smashed one of the best plates!"

"Henry, go upstairs please," Regina stroked his cheek and pushed him gently towards the stairs. "Why would you be like that with him?"

"That was a wedding present!"

"I know, mom I know, but he didn't smash it on purpose, he was just trying to clean up for you. All he wants to do is impress you! But you don't show him you love him, you never show any of us that you love us! I've been more of a mother to him than you ever have!"

"Who do you think you are?!" Cora stepped closer to her. "I'm his mother, not you!"

"Act like it then, show him you love him instead of constantly treating him like shit!"

A loud slap vibrated through the kitchen and Regina just stared at her mother in complete shock. "Regina, I'm sorry." Cora shook her head, "please Regina I didn't mean…"

"No, you don't get to do that; mom you need therapy! You need to deal with this!" Regina hurried upstairs, that was the first time her mother had ever done anything like that, she had never struck out before, never physically harmed her; now this was the last straw, she needed to get her mother help, she had dealt with her mood swings for too long and now she needed to sort it out, it had gone too far.

She looked in the mirror at the angry red mark and sighed, she wouldn't cry, she was stronger than that. She didn't have time to cover it, so she grabbed her bag, before calling to Henry, "Henry, come on, were gonna be late."

"I'm coming Gina." He rushing into her room and took her hand, "are you okay?" He asked looking up at her.

"Yes, I'm fine, let's go." They hurried down the stairs, bypassing their mother.

"Regina I'm…"

"No," she rejected, "Henry's going to be late to kindergarten." She exited the house and slammed the door behind her. Regina shook her head and took a deep breath, everything would be fine, she knew it would.

She hurried back into school, having taken Henry to playgroup, she was late and in a rush. She saw Robin walking down the corridor and looked up at him, he furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at her. "Regina?"

"I'm late Mr Locksley, sorry." She went to walk away, but he grasped her arm gently.

"No, stop." He stared at her intently, there was an angry red mark on her cheek and he swallowed heavily, had someone done that to her? Had someone hurt her? "Who did that to your face?" He asked.

"Did what?" She questioned, her hand coming up to cover her cheek, "I don't know what you're talking about." She couldn't tell anyone what had happened, couldn't risk it, even if she and Robin were closer than a student and teacher should be. Even if she trusted him completely she couldn't tell him, she didn't know if he'd keep it a secret.

She was covering for them, he knew she was, there were clear finger shaped marks on her, "come with me."

"No, I'm late for my first lesson."

"Regina, come with me, I'll let your teacher know why."

"Sir, it's really nothing."

"I will not take no for an answer." She rolled her eyes and followed him towards the first aid room, why was he so persistent? She knew he wasn't stupid though, he was a clever man and could probably see the mark, knew that she hadn't accidently hurt her face. "Sit down."

"Robin it's…"

"Sit down," he shook his head, as he took a cold compress out of the fringe and came to hold it on her cheek, causing her to wince. "Sorry."

"It's nothing." She sighed, her hand coming to rest on top of his, pressing it down, before looking up at him.

"So you said, but it looks like someone hit you." He tilted his head and bent down in front of her, "if someone's hurting you, you need to tell me, or someone else."

"She didn't mean it." Regina whispered, a lone tear rolling down her cheek.

Robin looked up at her with a worried expression on his face and furrowed his eyebrows, "who didn't mean it?"

Regina shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to stop yet more tears from falling. Robin stroked a hand through her hair, "Regina? Regina, please look at me. Please tell me who did this to you."

Regina sighed and allowed the tears to fall down her cheeks as she looked him in the eye; when he looked at her like he was doing, she couldn't resist him, it was almost as though he cast some sort of spell on her, something that made her want to tell him everything. "My mother," she whispered.

Robin looked at her in shock. How could someone do that to their own child?! He would never lay a hand on Roland, regardless of how misbehaved he was! And Regina, he thought, would've been the perfect daughter to her mother. She was a straight A student, earned her own money and was a wonderful sister to Henry. He wondered what could have possibly happened to provoke her mother into hitting her like that?! Not that there was any excuse, there was nothing that could excuse hitting your own flesh and blood.

Regina was still looking at Robin with tears still shining in her eyes, he hadn't said anything for the last few minutes, he'd just stared at her. She took a shuddery breath as she watched him, what was he thinking about? She could tell from his eyes that his mind was working at a hundred miles a minute. The compassion in his eyes took her breath away and without thinking, she leant forwards and closed her eyes as she moved to place a kiss on his lips.

For a moment, Robin forgot where he was and who she was to him and moved forwards to meet her lips. His brain caught up with the situation and fear suddenly flashed through him as his lips were millimetres away from hers, to the point where he could feel her soft breath against him, it was torture, but he pulled away, shaking his head.

"No," he whispered, rubbing his thumbs across her arms gently.

Regina's eyes flew open as she gasped and pulled away, looking anywhere but his stunning blue eyes. She was so embarrassed, what the hell was she playing at?

"Regina, I'm sorry but this can't happen," he explained sadly, trying to hold back his primal instinct to pull her close and kiss her senseless, he just wanted to protect her. The situation was made worse by the fact that she was upset, had he kissed her, he would have been taking advantage of her in a vulnerable moment and he couldn't do that, she wasn't thinking straight even if he felt the intense chemistry between them.

Regina desperately tried to hold back yet more tears, without much success, how could she have read the situation so wrong?! She was so stupid! Of course he'd never want her in that way, he was her teacher and what she did was wrong, what she did could have lost him his job.

She choked out a sob, grabbed her bag and stood to run out of the room as fast as she possibly could.

"Regina, wait!" Robin called after her, trying to stop her from leaving, but it was too late, she'd already gone.

He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. God, he was such an idiot!

Regina ran down the hall, her hand covering her mouth to try and hide her sobs, and ran in to the toilets. She entered an empty cubicle, locked the door and sat on the closed toilet seat, her head in her hands, sobbing until she couldn't physically carry on.

What on earth was she thinking?! Robin was her teacher and nothing could ever happen even if they both wanted it to, which Robin, she reminded herself, didn't.

She would never forget how she felt at that moment, upset, embarrassed and humiliated, to name but a few. She didn't think she'd ever be able to look him in the eye again!

She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes, she was already late for class but she thought she might as well put in some sort of appearance, maybe it would take her mind off Robin for a little while. Thank God she didn't have an English today!

The rest of the day had gone by painfully slow for Robin. He couldn't wait for the day to be over so that he could find Regina and apologise.

She probably thought that he wanted nothing to do with her and that definitely wasn't the case! Maybe he could tell her that he'll wait for her to graduate then maybe something could possibly happen between them? He really hoped it could.

Finally, the school bell rang, signalling the end of the day. Robin breathed a sigh of relief and dismissed his class before hurrying out into the school corridor, hoping to catch sight of Regina before she left.

He turned the corner and spotter her standing by her locker, he smiled and was about to go over to her, when he saw something which made him stop in his tracks and change his mind.

Another student had approached Regina at her locker, she turned and smiled at him as he bent down to kiss her cheek. She let out a small laugh as she closed her locker and walked side by side with him as they left the school.

Robin was standing there completely dumbfounded. He'd missed his chance! She seemed to look happy with this boy, Robin didn't recognise him so hoped he was nice enough to treat Regina the way she deserved.

His shoulders sagged and he fought the urge to turn back and go after her, he didn't, he went back to his classroom to retrieve his coat and his carrier bag of books and papers. Maybe he should go briefcase shopping? Anything to try and keep his mind off his heartbreak.

He collected his things and something came to mind, causing anger to surge through him, she was being hurt at home, what if she went home and her mother hurt her again, what if he knew she was being hurt and didn't stop it from happening, what if it was worse the second time? He did something he knew he wasn't allowed to do, but if he wasn't allowed to be with Regina, he sure as hell was going to make sure that she wasn't hurt again, ever.

He sat down at his computer, looking around as though someone was going to come in and catch him in the act; he typed her name into the system and waited for her profile to come up. As soon as it did he was sat there staring at her picture, her mouth was in a mischievous smirk and her hair was tucked behind one of her ears as it cascaded down over her shoulders. Sighing he shook his head, how could he have fallen for her so hard so fast? It was crazy, insane, but it was true, his feelings were real and he was reminded of that every time he saw her.

Working past her distracting photo, he scrolled down until he came to her address; he scribbled it down on a scrap of paper and rushed out of the door, leaving her profile open on his computer.

While driving a million thoughts were going through his mind, this was a stupid idea, he should have told the proper governing board what he knew, he should have told someone else, but he hadn't, because he knew that Regina would not want that, she would probably resent him forever should he do that to her and he wouldn't be able to bare that, he wouldn't be able to deal with knowing that she hated him and that he caused some massive rift within her family.

Pulling up at her house he simply sat in the car and stared at it for a couple of minutes, before taking a deep breath and getting out. Was he really doing this? Yes, someone needed to, Regina clearly wasn't going to tell anyone else, so he needed to be the person who dealt with it, he needed to do this for Regina, to protect her. Coming to the front door, he knocked heavily and waited for someone to answer as he stood his fists clenching. What the hell was he going to say? He probably should have thought that through before coming here all guns blazing.

The door opened and he was stood facing an older woman with dark hair and dark eyes, very similar to Regina's, but without the spark, without the fire that he loved. "Who are you?" She spat.

"Mrs Mills? I'm Robin Locksley, Regina's English teacher."

"And?"

"Can I come in?" he asked, looking past her.

"Regina isn't here."

"I came to speak to you actually," he sighed, this was going to be difficult, he knew it was.

"Alright, do come in Mr Lockley."

"Thank you," he nodded, following her into the house and taking a seat where she had gestured to the kitchen table. Looking around he came to find that it was quite a grand house, clearly they had money, but maybe they didn't have the vital thing, love.

"Would you like a hot beverage, coffee, tea perhaps?"

"I'm fine thank you, I'm afraid this is a delicate subject."

"I see," Cora sat down opposite him, "so, is my daughter failing?"

"No, no she couldn't be further from failing, but this conversation isn't about her school life." He saw the look on her face change, as though she realised what it was going to be about. "This morning, I found your daughter hurrying through the corridor and stopped her to find a red mark on her cheek."

The woman in front of him buried her head in her hands, "oh god," she cried.

"She told me this in confidence, told me that you hit her, is that true?" Although he trusted Regina, he wanted to give her mother a chance to explain, she was evidently more remorseful than he had expected her to be. Cora nodded and he took a deep breath, "I should report this, but Regina doesn't want me to and I respect her wishes, but if I find out that you've laid a figure on her or Henry again, I will go straight to any authority I have to in order to protect her, do you understand? I won't allow you to hurt her, or your son."

With that, he stood up and left the house, he felt like he had succeeded in getting his message across, he hoped he had, hoped she understood, because he never wanted to see Regina like she was that morning ever again.

 _ **A/N: Sorry for the almost kiss! Haha! I'll be writing the next chapter from Regina's POV so you'll find out how she came to leave school with that boy, have you worked out who he is?**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A:N I'm so sorry that it's been so long since I updated this! I didn't really have that much motivation to write :/**_

 _ **Thanks to everyone who kept nagging me to get it finished (you know who you are! ;) )**_

 _ **Olivia! I got it posted just before your birthday! Happy early birthday present!**_

 _ **Thank you again to the lovely Amber for helping co-write this with me!**_

 _ **Hope it was worth the wait!**_

Regina wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. She needed to pull herself together and try not to let any more of her emotions come to the surface, she really didn't want anyone knowing that she had been crying her eyes out in a toilet stall. She composed herself and left the bathroom, her hands were still shaking and she held one still with the other in attempt to make them stop.

Her first class was about to end and she didn't see the point in attending for the last few minutes, she'd missed the whole lesson anyway. It was all Robin's fault, he had been the one who had forced her to go to first aid with him, if he hadn't been so god darn nice and understanding, she never would have embarrassed herself by trying to kiss him. She made her way to her next class, History, and waited outside the door; the previous class hadn't quite finished yet, but she was fine with waiting, it gave her a little longer to get her shit together.

She was leaning against the wall outside of the classroom, playing with the ends of her hair, when she saw someone lean against the wall next to her. She glanced up and saw that it was a tall boy with brown hair, blue eyes and a slightly lopsided smile. She was pretty sure she'd never set eyes on him before, so why was he standing so close to her?

"Is everything alright Regina?" he asked softly.

Regina looked back up at him and tried not to show her confusion, he knew her name? How come she didn't know his? Or even who he was for that matter?

"Ummm... I'm fine," she smiled hesitantly.

"If you say so," he muttered, more to himself than to her.

"Sorry, who are you?" She didn't want to sound rude, but it was slightly strange talking to a guy she'd never really seen before.

"Oh, I'm Daniel," he held out his hand to her.

Cautiously, she took his hand and gave him a nervous smile. Daniel, it suited him and he seemed nice enough, maybe it couldn't hurt to get to know him. He was waiting outside the classroom with her, that must mean that he was in her class and she could use a friend to talk to, anything to keep her mind from her heartbreak, away from Robin.

As it turned out, Daniel was in quite a few of the same classes as Regina. He was in her History, Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Art classes. She felt guilty that she'd never noticed him in any of them, especially since he'd obviously noticed her, he even sat behind her in two of the classes! What did that say about her? Probably that she was anti-social and liked to concentrate on her studies instead of the people around her. She had told herself that she didn't have time for romance, didn't have time for boys, where had that gone with Robin? She'd clearly made time for him.

Their last class before lunch had been Maths; they now walked into the cafeteria together and Regina went to join the back of the line to get herself some lunch, she thought Daniel was still behind her and turned around to talk to him but found herself standing alone. Of course, he was just being friendly, that didn't mean that he wanted to eat lunch with her, why was she such a bad judge of character? She saw him still standing by the entrance talking to a boy with short, curly red hair and glasses. He must be his friend, she thought. She smiled sadly and turned back to wait in line, so much for a new friend.

When she had paid for her lunch, she looked around the room for an empty table. She didn't have any friends at school so always sat by herself. She couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed that Daniel had left her alone. No, she didn't have any romantic feelings towards him, but having a friend who was actually from the same school as she was would be nice.

She spotted a table in the far corner of the room and made her way over. It was next to the rubbish and recycling bins, but she supposed it would have to do, after all it wasn't as if someone was going to invite her to sit with them, she wasn't cool enough, she was the odd one out.

She sighed as she picked at her fries, so much for talking to someone to help her keep her mind off Robin. Oh for goodness sake! Why did she start thinking about him again?! She really needed a big distraction and clearly a burger and fries wasn't helping in the slightest, she didn't really know what would.

She was just about to get up and throw the remainder of her lunch away, before heading to the library to spend the rest of the break there, when she felt someone sit next to her, she turned to see who it was and couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face when she saw that it was Daniel, maybe she wasn't so alone after all.

He smiled back at her, "hey, I'm sorry about that, that was my friend Archie caught me in the door way, he wanted to talk about something," he sighed and placed his hand on top of hers. "I didn't notice you'd carried on walking, I tried to look for you coming out of the line but I must have missed you leaving it. How come you're sat all alone? Where are your friends?"

Regina sighed and shook her head, "What friends?" she scoffed, casting him a smirk, before becoming serious again, "I don't really have any," she whispered, slightly embarrassed at her response.

Daniel looked at her with a mixture of sadness, pity and surprise on his face, "that can't be true?" he smiled kindly. "Surely a girl like you would have a lot of friends?"

Regina sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "I have a couple, it's just they don't go to school here," she shrugged. "My friend Tink is at a different high school and my best friend Emma never went here either and she's a couple of years older than I am."

Daniel smiled and nodded his head in understanding. "Well, I'd love it if I could be your first 'in school' friend, if that's ok with you?"

Regina smiled, "I'd like that. I could really use a friend right about now," she sighed, looking down at her half eaten, now cold lunch, she really wasn't hungry.

She could tell that Daniel wanted to ask her what was wrong, but he probably didn't want to pry in to her private life, knew that if she wanted him to know what was bothering her she would have told him. If that's what he was thinking then he was right, she didn't want anyone to know what had happened between her and Robin… Mr Locksley.

Daniel stood from his seat and extended his hand to her, "how about I introduce you to my friends?"

Regina looked up at him, her mouth slightly agape and a look of disbelief in her eyes, "you really want me to eat lunch with you?"

Daniel nodded in reply and smiled back at her, he couldn't believe how insecure she sounded. Every time he saw her she always had an air of confidence about her, like she didn't care what anyone else thought or said about her, looking at her now he could tell that the confidence she portrayed was just a front, maybe she felt the need to protect herself or something? He didn't understand why she would feel so insecure, he didn't know much about her but what he did know, he already liked an admired and he wanted to get to know her better.

Regina stood and smiled at him, breaking Daniel out of his trance. He coughed slightly and smiled back, then led the way to the table where his friends were waiting.

They all looked up as they saw Daniel and Regina approach them, "hey guys," Daniel greeted, sitting down on an empty chair, gesturing to Regina to sit on the other next to his.

Regina could feel several pairs of eyes watching her and she suddenly felt herself becoming uncomfortable. What if his friends didn't like her? Would they tell her to leave? She'd only known Daniel half a day but she already valued his friendship and didn't want to lose it, but she also didn't want to take him away from his friends if they didn't like her.

"Guys this is Regina," Daniel announced, flashing yet another smile at her, which she briefly returned. "I asked her to sit with us for lunch. Regina this is Archie, Graham, Ruby and Belle," he explained, pointing to each of them in turn.

"Hi," she smiled nervously at them, she hoped they liked her, for Daniel's sake.

The girl Daniel had introduced as Belle leant forwards and held her hand out to Regina, "nice to meet you Regina," she smiled.

"If you don't mind me asking," said Graham, "how come you're sitting with us and not your own friends?"

Daniel shot him a warning glance as Regina looked down at her hands in her lap and nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "errmm..." she started awkwardly, "I don't have any," she admitted with a sigh.

"Oh, what?" Ruby scoffed, "well, something needs to be done about that girl, we'll be your friends, won't we Belle? Don't pay attention to that one," she gestured to Graham, "he can get a little grumpy."

Regina let out a little laugh and shook her head as she turned to Daniel for reassurance, he nodded and she spoke again, knowing that she would need to actually speak to them if she was going to make them into her friends and god knows she needed some, "thank you," she smiled, "I like your hair."

"What this?" Ruby touched the red streak that ran through it and chuckled, "I thought it might look a little edgy, it's not too much, is it?"

"No, I think it suits you."

"Thanks," Ruby looked at Daniel and grinned, "I like her already."

Regina smiled in relief, she didn't know if Ruby was just being nice or if she actually liked her, she hoped she liked her, but she could deal with it if she was just being nice, she wished more people would be like that instead of being mean when it was unnecessary.

"So, what subjects do you take?" Ruby asked.

"English," she stated, it being the first subject to come to mind, maybe because of who taught it, "history and science."

"Ooh, very academic."

"Yeah," she whispered, "how about you?"

"Art, drama and music."

"Sounds like fun."

"Um, English sounds like fun, I hear they have a hot new teacher in that department, Belle what did you say he was called?"

"Mr Locksley," Regina announced without even thinking about what she was saying, then she looked at them wide eyed, "I mean, I'm guessing it's him, he's the only new English teacher," she excused. She had pretty much just admitted to them that she found Robin hot, which she did, who wouldn't, he was quite the dreamboat.

"Yes, that was it, I mean I saw him in the corridor the other day and, ooh lala, Mr Sexy."

"Ruby," Belle nudged her rolling her eyes, "sorry about her, she has sex on the brain, all the time."

"I do not, all I said was the new teacher was hot Belle, you said so yourself."

"That's not the point," she whispered.

"Oh yeah, I forgot, Mr Locksley is too young for you, you tend to lust after an older model, right?"

"Shut up!"

Regina noticed that the girl's face had turned about a hundred shades of red as she glared at Ruby. She didn't know what they were talking about, but clearly it was an inside joke that they weren't intent on sharing any time soon.

"Anyway, he is a total catch," Ruby continued, "I wouldn't kick him out of bed."

Regina gritted her teeth somewhat, a strange feeling beginning to rise within her as she tried not to cast Ruby a dodgy look, she didn't know why she was feeling this sudden annoyance towards her, this sudden need to tell her to back off, but… oh, it was Robin, of course it was Robin, she was jealous and she didn't want another woman drooling over him, not that he was hers or anything, but she still really didn't want to see…

Something caught her eye over Ruby's shoulder and she simply stared, he was there, stood with Miss West, why the hell was he with her? She was the worst teacher in the school; Regina couldn't tear her eyes away from them, the way the red head flicked her hair and laughed at something Robin said and he was smiling at her, his dimples showing.

Regina felt anger and jealously flood through her bones as she tried to stop herself from crying again, she had already cried over that man once, she wasn't going to do it a second time. She was stronger than that, had more control, she took a deep breath and clenched her firsts, before releasing them again and standing from her chair.

"Regina?" Daniel questioned.

"I'm just going to the bathroom," she whispered, what she was really doing was getting out of there, she couldn't just sit there and watch another woman flirt with the guy she had fallen for, the guy she thought had fallen for her, but clearly not, he clearly didn't care for her one bit. But she already knew that didn't she, she worked it out when he pushed her away, when he rejected her and let her go, let what they could have had together go. Although she knew why he had done it, she thought he was a bigger man than to have immediately moved on, to have allowed Zelena bloody West of all people to get so close.

She stood just outside the door of the cafeteria and tried to calm herself down, pacing a little, back and forth, back and forth, trying to just make some sense of what was going on in her own head. Maybe she was crazy, a little insane, she didn't know how she had let herself fall for Robin in the first place, what the hell was she thinking?

She was still pacing, her eyes looking at the ground as she bumped straight into someone, her head shot up and she saw that very same female teacher looking back at her, her red hair in a loose updo with tendrils flaring around her face, "excuse me," the older woman scoffed, "I think you should probably watch where you're going young lady."

"And I think you should be more professional and stop flirting with other teachers in the school canteen, but we can't always get what we want can we?" she scoffed, her eyes going wide as she realised what she had done, a hand clasped over her mouth and she stared at the teacher. Oh, she was in so much trouble, so, so much trouble, she had never been in any trouble before and this was certainly going to get her into some, apparently, Miss West loved to dish out punishments, she would probably be in detention for weeks for pulling a stunt like that.

She could see the woman's eyes light up and a devious smirk form on her face. This was not good!

"Well Miss Mills, I think a month's worth of after school detentions ought to straighten out your excessive rudeness. Maybe you should..."

"What's going on here?" Robin interrupted, walking out of the cafeteria, looking between the two women with concern. He'd heard how nasty Zelena could be from fellow teachers and a few of his students who'd had the displeasure of getting on her bad side. To be perfectly honest, Robin wasn't even sure that she had a good one! He could see how nervous Regina looked, what the hell had happened here?!

"Robbie!" exclaimed Zelena, fluttering her eyelashes at him. Robin fought the urge to roll his eyes at her and could just make out the barely contained scoff that came from Regina. Unfortunately, Zelena had also heard it herself and another wicked smirk formed on her face as she turned back to face her.

"I think we better make that two months worth of detentions Miss Mills," she said, in a sickly sweet voice.

Regina's eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped slightly. "Ummmm... M-miss West, please..."

"Woah! Wait a minute!" Robin stepped in, "that seems overly harsh!"

"Well then maybe Miss Mills should learn to keep her opinions to herself," Zelena replied as she went to walk away, stroking her hand against Robin's chest as she went.

Robin couldn't help the disgusted look that made its way onto his face, Zelena however didn't seem to notice as she walked away, chuckling to herself.

Regina let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair. As her eyes met Robin's she quickly looked away, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth in nervousness. She still felt so awkward about trying to kiss him earlier, she couldn't bring herself to even look at him, who knew her shoes could be so interesting?!

Robin softly cleared his throat, "um... does your cheek still hurt?" he asked, still concerned.

Regina unconsciously raised a hand to her face where her mother had slapped her this morning and shook her head slightly, "I guess it still stings a little but honestly, it's not so bad anymore," she shrugged nervously.

"Well it doesn't look as red as it did before," Robin offered.

Regina gave a small smile and continued to play with her hair, "I'm so sorry about before Mr Locksley. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Don't worry about it Regina," he answered awkwardly. "Let's just pretend it never happened," he attempted a smile but it came out as more of a grimace.

Regina couldn't help but feel disappointed by his response. Actually, disappointed wasn't the right word, heartbroken would be more accurate. "Oh, um, of course," she replied. 'I – um, better get to my next class, see you around Mr Locksley," and she left without waiting for his response, leaving behind a very conflicted Robin.

Regina started walking to her next class when she heard someone behind her call her name. She let a small smile make its way to her face when she realised that it was Daniel, however she still couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that it wasn't Robin.

"Hey, where did you run off to?" he asked with a slight look of concern on his face.

Regina shook her head, "oh I just had to use the bathroom. I'm fine," she replied with a smile.

Daniel however didn't look convinced but decided to let the matter drop, if she wanted to talk to him about any problems she was having then she would, at least, he hoped she would.

When the school day finally ended, Regina couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. After placing her books back in her locker, she leant against the open door then ran a hand through her hair. She was happy that the school day was over, but now she had to go home and face her mother after the events of this morning. She subconsciously lifted a hand to her cheek and frowned, how was she even supposed to start that conversation? Maybe she could go for a walk to help psych herself up for it?

Regina jumped slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Daniel smiling down at her.

"Me and the guys are going to the bowling alley for a couple of games if you wanna come with us?" he asked.

She nodded and smiled back at him and let out a small laugh as he leant down to kiss her cheek and pushed his arm playfully. She turned to close her locker and walked down the corridor, towards the exit with her new friend.

Regina hadn't noticed Robin watching her as Daniel had approached her and Robin couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed that she hadn't. She must have been thinking about what her mother had done that morning, he'd noticed her holding a hand to her cheek where she'd been hit.

A few minutes later, after he'd pretty much violated her privacy by looking up her details on the school system, he picked up his things and ran out of his classroom in a rush to go and have a quiet word with her mother, he hadn't realised he'd left her profile open on his computer

Robin didn't know it but he'd left his classroom just in time. No sooner had he turned the corner of the corridor that his classroom was situated in did Zelena arrive at the other end of it. She made her way across to Robin's classroom with a smirk on her face and a predatory glint in her eyes, she was adamant she was going to get Robin for herself, she wasn't going to give up that easily.

She entered his classroom, expecting to find Robin sitting behind his desk, but she found it empty. She scoffed and rolled her eyes and turned to leave. Before she could however, she heard a notification chime from Robin's computer, and went over to look for herself. She couldn't help but raise her eyebrows in surprise when she saw what was on there. A photograph of Regina Mills stared back at her, along with her home address, telephone number and all her other personal details. What the hell was Robin doing checking up on Regina Mills? Zelena felt herself becoming jealous of the girl, clearly Robin cared for her but what was so special about her anyway?!

Zelena huffed as she left the room, she woulf find a way to have Robin for herself.

A couple of hours later, after she had picked up Henry from Mary Margaret's, Regina pulled up her car outside of their house. The good mood she had been in had dampened the closer to home she got, the thought of the conversation she needed to have with her mother making her anxious.

Henry must have noticed her nervousness as she felt a small hand on her shoulder and heard him ask; "are you ok Gina?" She turned to smile at him and rand a thumb across his cheek, "I'm fine Henry. Come on, let's get you inside."

She reached over to unbuckle Henry's seatbelt and stepped out of the car, she took Henry's hand in hers as they walked towards the house.

Cora was still sat at the table with her head in her hands, how had she managed to let herself slip so far? How could she have gone so far as to hit her own daughter?

She heard the front door open and Regina and Henry entering the house. She sniffled and wiped her eyes as she stood up to walk towards her children.

"Did you have a good day at playgroup and Mary Margaret's sweetheart?" Cora smiled at Henry.

Henry looked up at Regina, confusion etched across his young face, his mother never asked how his day had been. Regina gave him what she hoped was a reassuring nod for him to answer.

"Um... it was good, we played with Lego again," Henry smiled awkwardly up at his mother.

"Well that sounds like fun!" Cora smiled back. "Why don't you run upstairs and put your bag away then maybe you could help me make some dinner?"

Henry nodded, still confused by his mother's behaviour as he made his way upstairs to his bedroom.

When Henry had left to go and put his bag away, Cora turned to Regina, wearing an apologetic smile on her face, "Regina, sweetheart, I'm so sorry for what I did this morning. You were right, I do need help, I just wish I'd realised it sooner, especially as it seems to have impacted on your school life also," she sighed.

Regina stood with her arms folded, glaring at her mother, "what are you talking about? Why would it impact my school life?"

"Your English teacher, Mr Locksley is it? He paid me a visit, said he's noticed the mark on your face and how upset you were," Cora looked down at the ground in shame.

"He was here?" Regina asked in surprise. Why would Robin go out of his way to find out where she lived? And why would he go to the effort of talking to her mother? Did he care for her? No, surely not. He'd have probably done the sane for any other student, she wasn't special. Should she be annoyed that he would do that? Technically he had violated her privacy, she had asked him not to talk to anyone about what had happened, to keep it between the two of them, clearly, he hadn't done that, he had broken her trust and gone to her mother behind her back.

She noticed her mother still looking at her, waiting for her to respond, "Mom, I can't forgive what you did this morning, not just to me, but also how you treated Henry, he's just a kid, he doesn't understand what's going on!" She took a moment to catch her breath and control her anger before she continued. "Like I said, I can't forgive you, but I can try and move past it if you promise me you're going to get some help."

Cora closed the distance between her and her daughter and tucked a strand of hair behind Regina's ear, "I promise sweetheart. I want to be better, to be the mother that you and Henry both deserve."

Regina gave her a small smile and nodded stiffly, "ok," she replied. "I'm going to head up to my room, I have a lot of homework to get done."

She swung her bag more securely over her shoulder and made her way upstairs. She felt as though a small weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Her family life still wasn't great, but now that her mother had finally accepted that she needed help, it was definitely a step in the right direction.

As for Robin, she would deal with that when she next saw him, he had broken her trust and although he had her best intentions at heart, she was still fuming at him for it, she sensed that another discussion was needed and that was going to hurt like hell.


End file.
